


The Ache for Home

by Anonymous



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: 2020-2021 NHL Season, Established Relationship, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Matthew's 100th Goal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 22:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29750169
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: Leon turns on the entry light, sees a pair of beat up tennis shoes, and sighs.Or: The one where Matthew breaks the rules in Edmonton, post Oilers/Flames 7-1 game.
Relationships: Leon Draisaitl/Matthew Tkachuk
Comments: 10
Kudos: 177
Collections: Anonymous





	The Ache for Home

**Author's Note:**

> This is terribly short and inspired by the Calgary 7-1 loss against the Oilers and Matthew's struggle to get his 100th goal.
> 
> To be clear, nothing happens in this fic, there is no plot, it is just nonsense.
> 
> The title was inspired by this Maya Angelou quote: “The ache for home lives in all of us. The safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned.” from All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes. It has nothing to do with the story, it just resinated with me.
> 
> Also, all mistakes are mine, so, I'm sorry.

Leon leaves the lights off as he walks through his house to the kitchen after the solid Oilers win. He roughly pulls at his tie as he reaches the fridge and pauses. He hasn’t heard Bowie’s paws on the hardwood. Leon calls out, “Bowie?”

Nothing.

Leon, feeling his pulse start to raise, walking quickly to his front door. He turns on the entry light and releases a sigh when he sees a pair of beat up tennis shoes.

“Fuck,” Leon makes a face to himself and turns to the stairs.

His bedroom door is closed and when he opens it, the room is dark with just the light of the moon coming in through the window where the curtains were left open.

On the bed, Leon can see Bowie snuggled up with a lump covered by the comforter and turns on the light.

“Matthew, what are you doing here?” Leon asks calmly, getting closer to the bed to give Bowie scratches behind his ears.

“Go away.” Comes muffled from under the covers.

“You are literally in _my_ bed.”

“That seems like a _you_ problem.” is sassily mumbled from the lump.

“Matthew,” Leon sighs. He isn’t unhappy to have Matthew here, but they agreed they were going to be following the COVID protocols for the season.

Matthew sighes and pushes the comforter down until his head pops out, and Leon will not be distracted by those messy curls.

“This season sucks, I fucking suck, and I am just go to live here under the blankets with Bowie,” and Matthew pulls the blankets back over his head.

“How about, no?” Leon is trying not to find Matthew’s dramatics adorable, but he is pretty sure he has been brainwashed and pulls the blankets back down from Matthew’s face.

Matthew narrows his eyes at Leon and pushes himself up to sitting in the bed, “I get that the Oilers loose all the time, but you don’t understand what its like to not fucking score.”

Leon feels a shock of hurt run through him, as if he just accepts that the Oilers coming up short season after season with the best player in the world, and it must show on his face because Matthew cringes and says, “I’m sorry, that was shitty, and I broke the no teams in the bedroom rule.”

Leon stays silent, sits on the end of the bed next to Matthew’s legs, and raises his eyebrow.

Matthew scrubs his hand over his face, “I just - like this year sucks right? Outside of hockey and whatever, and like we want to do right by our teammates and not put anyone at unnecessary risk, but, like, I have missed you so fucking much.”

Leon places his hand on Matthew’s legs, above the covers and nods, because he feels it too. This season is already a grind, but unlike a lot of his teammates, he comes home to Bowie and he only has Matthew’s voice over the phone and his face through a screen.

And it does _suck,_ Leon gets it.

Matthew stops looking at Leon and moves his eyes to look up at the ceiling, “And like, my team, we’re struggling and I don’t know how to fix that. And the puck just won’t go in the net and Brady reached that stupid 100 point milestone before I got my 100th goal, and I just - I want to hide in your bed and pretend hockey doesn’t suck right now and I need my person.”

Leon starts nodding before Matthew has finished talking, he says, “ok,” while reaching for Matthew. Matthew comes out of his mound of blankets, slightly tangled, and falls into Leon’s lap. He reaches his arms around Leon and buries his face into the crook of Leon’s neck.

Leon kisses the top of Matthew’s head and relishes in the closeness that they have been missing since returning to Alberta after the Christmas holidays. And, oh, how Leon has missed the feel of Matthew against his body.

“Hey, Matty?” Leon whispers and pulls back slightly. Matthew moves away from Leon’s shoulder to look at him.

“You are a great player, a terrible fucking pest, but a great player. Your goal will come. Your team will start being better. This season will be over before we know it, and we will hold up here, or St. Louis, or maybe head home and just be together.”

“I know,” Matthew sighes.

“And I love you,” Leon continues.

Matthew smirks, “I know.”

Leon rolls his eyes, “Why are you like this?”  
Matthew’s smile gets even larger and snuggles back into Leon’s shoulder and breathes, as they fall into silence.

“So, sex?” Matthew breaks the quiet hug, shortly after.

“Fuck, yes.”

\---

“100 fucking goals, baby!” Leon hears yelled into the phone the moment he answers it in a hotel room in Vancouver.

“I know, I saw, Häschen,” Leon responds and he did watch the game, on his phone, while he ate, and he will never hear the end of the chirps from his teammates.

“Aww you watched my game, you loooooovee me so much, ya nerd.” Leon can hear Matthew’s smile through the speakers.

“I see you’re feeling a lot better.”

“Like you wouldn’t believe, it must have been the sex.”

Leon laughs, “Oh, I’m sure.”

“Oh! My mom’s calling. I’ll call you once I’m back in the hotel and we can celebrate.” Matthew rushes out and hangs up without waiting for a response.

Leon pulls the phone away from his ear, feeling a bit of whiplash, but is comforted by it. Matthew’s joy settles something in Leon that has been building since they left St. Louis for training camp.

They only have two and a half months left in the season, then playoffs. They just need to get through it one game at a time.


End file.
